Princess
by Blue Dartwing
Summary: One shots about my various princesses, covering parts of Fable III from their points of view. If you want to know how they would see certain subjects, please review!
1. Herself

**Princess**

**Herself**

Her full name is Rina Marine Black.

She is the princess, a bastard child whose father is unknown until she finds an old journal, and with that one many others, detailing her own mother's life, and the man she was in love with but never married.

She was named after her mother's sister, and her mother's dog; nobody was sure what to make of that.

She has the surname of the Archons of old; a fitting surname for one of his descendants and the apparent saviour of Albion.

Despite the word 'Marine' in her name, there is nothing of the sea in her. She gets easily seasick; she loves the land and the only water she likes is Bower Lake. Even then, she doesn't go out on rowboats and doesn't swim too far. She hates diving.

She has good posture, the eyes of a father she thought she'd never met, her mother's skin and hair like chocolate silk. She wears her queen's clothes in several their normal tones and uses the Swift Irregular and her Hero sword. She calls it Sparrow. Together, mother and father are united on her back.

She constantly worries; remains outwardly strong for her people, but frets continually on the inside and bites her nails when nobody's looking. He's always reprimanding her for that. Jasper.

Years later, when she discovers who her father was, she changes her last name.

To Swift.

* * *

She is simply Luna.

Her mother did not hold for fancy titles and pretty names. Princess Luna is all she needs. Besides, 'Blade Black' would have sounded terrible.

And she is Luna, she is lunar. She has become moonlight pale and has hair shot with black, pitch as the night sky. She is cold as the dark side of the moon to those she dislikes, but warmer than the sun to the man she loves.

There is a crescent scar on her shoulder; a gift from mercenaries playing with puns, who later play with fire and feel her wrath.

She likes fire; likes the way it dances and crackles, burning up all in its path. A strange sentiment for a girl with named after the moon, a supposedly peaceful, serene object.

She used to wear light blue, but when the mercenaries shattered her past self, she could not do so any longer, and changed herself. White and dark blue, the ripped, elegant princess' bodice and the torn dark blue skirt that Saker tore.

It attracted a rogue she never thought she'd love, and when she marries him, her name changes also.

To Finn.

* * *

Tallusa Louisa Erin Tallulah Black.

As Reaver always said, a big name for a little girl, and later on a strong name for a strong queen.

Black like the Archons, but Tallusa is blonde like her mother, brown-eyed like her father, and mischievous like her friend Reaver. She remains little her entire life, a head shorter than her husband, the little queen who did big things.

Her name was chosen when her mother was giving birth to her, and three names were running through her head. While her father was trying to goad an answer from her, Sparrow went to shout Tallulah and Louisa at the same time. What came out was 'Tallusa', a unique name for Albion's next saviour.

Once Reaver taught her how to swim there was no going back; she was always flailing around in the pond in the castle after that.

She is cheeky; clever; observant and obnoxious when necessary. Hates skirts, loves trousers, yet dolls up like a nightwalker when she feels so inclined. She has a penchant for masks. She wears one for eight months straight while faking another identity and doesn't tire of them.

She prefers Will over her weapons, but takes a pistol over her sword any day. After all, it's a Dragonstomper. 48, and Reaver taught her how to shoot. One very, very precious memory.

Without her dog she's lonely; without Reaver she's bored; without Logan she feels unprotected. Without her husband she's frustrated, in more ways than one.

She has a niece, a beautiful, creamy brown girl called Lizzie, Page's child. She loves her to pieces and Logan catches her trying to teach her how to shoot.

Once, she tried to take the easy way out and paid for it with a guilty conscience that plagued her for months.

Never again, she swore.

Especially after they married.

* * *

Valkyrie Krieger.

One means a being that chooses the fate of the warrior in battle. The other means warrior. She has chosen who will die in battle, and it will not be her.

The name 'Krieger' would not spark interest with anyone who had no interest in the Heroes Guild of old. But mention the name to an avid scholar of said subject and there will much brow raising and speculation. Valkyrie has potentially the oddest ancestry in the whole of Albion:

A father whose family stamped out the Heroes' Guild using whatever they could find, and a mother whose ancestry dates back to the Archon himself. A Hero-killer and a Hero. An assassin and a bird. Roran and Dove.

Her hair is blood-red, and her clothes contrast – a deep Lincolnshire green, though nobody is quite sure where Lincolnshire is, and pitch black. They are her queen's clothes, though her trousers are certainly not.

When she fights, it is with ice and fire and a sword call Knightqueen. She only uses her pistols to shoot flitswitches, and the one she prefers is an old gun she found in a chest in the Sanctuary. When Reaver ogles it, he finds it in a parcel on his doorstep, and then she shoots with the Black Dragon.

Her mother had tried to instil a sense of pride and firm, good behaviour in her daughter. To some extent, she succeeded. Valkyrie, in front of people, behaves as a perfect, regal princess. Behind closed doors, however, the princess is a seductress, tempting male servants into her bedchamber for a quick fling.

She meets her match in seduction later on, when she encounters a blonde soldier in Mourningwood.

* * *

All of them have one thing in common. They are terrified of Hollow Men.

* * *

**A/N So, what do you think? If you liked it, or you want to post suggestions as to what I cover next from their point of view, please review!**

**Ideas I have so far:**

**Reaver**

**Elliot**

**Ben**

**Children**

**Life**

**Lizabetta (who is a review whore, sad to say...)**


	2. Elliot

**Elliot**

He is a playmate her mother found for her; a friend, after she lost a little boy with blue eyes who used to play – Rina never remembers how long for.

He is a nobleman's son, and his father has big plans for him. He has the softest eyes she has ever seen, and the first time they play he's soft too; he falls over too easily and cries a bit. She wonders if she wants to marry him.

When they are twelve she decides that she might marry him after all; when Percy Thrump threatens her honour Elliot hits him, and she gives him a handkerchief to wipe the blood away after Percy hits him back. It is sweet of him; he didn't have to, after all, but he did, and that makes her smile.

When she is sixteen, they are sitting together, and her hand brushes his. She has never known desire before that, but when he suddenly grabs that hand and gazes into her eyes, she does.

It doesn't take long for them to be in a relationship, and they start to learn about each other, the funny things that make her moan and the odd movements that cause him to shudder and twitch for her. They are together for the sheer feeling of being together, and slowly they begin to care deeply for each other.

Four years later he is dead.

* * *

Luna is twelve when she sees him at a ball, walks across the room and quietly informs him that women don't dance alone. Then they are off across the ballroom, whirling and gliding as only noble's children have learned how, a glittering couple that parts the crowd like a magician in a river. And everyone murmurs and nods their approval and remarks about what a pretty pair they make, both of them nut brown, though her eyes are blue to his hazel. Her mother smirks knowingly, her father is appraising, and Logan simply grunts and shrugs.

When they are seventeen, after years of holding themselves back, they go the way of the commoners and rut in a corner, her lower lip between her teeth and his left hand over his mouth, covered by a wardrobe and utterly lost in the sensation. He fits her like a key in a lock; tightly, perfectly, everything she's ever wanted.

She dominates in life, but he dominates in bed, and she is more than happy to let him take the lead. They were built for each other, and if Avo decrees that her place between sheets is beneath him, then damned well she'll give him that.

Three years later she is given the choice; spare the rebels, or spare her lover. Torn between love and duty, she spares him, and the shock on his face when she does so is like a slap. That is a look that says '_I thought better of you_.' He is right; she should not have spared him, but she _couldn't_. He is _hers_, and she'll be damned if she lets the bullets take him from her.

She sees him afterwards in the Bowerstone Orphanage, engaged to another woman. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially should she express her anger in a frenzied kiss. _Mine_, she reminds him, _demands_ that he leaves Linda, because she's not usually selfish like this, but Avo can take his ideals of virtuous Heroes and shove them up Skorm's arse for a laugh; when it comes to Elliot, she will not be virtuous. _Hers_.

They marry soon after. Luna has twins, and they live in Brightwall. After the rebellion, they return to the castle. They find themselves back in that corner on their first day there, the queen and her consort, returning to a place of memories.

Later on, when the Crawler is dead and _he_ returns, she finds her time with him seems to fly by, faster and faster, until the day he catches that disease and leaves her forever. She wishes there had been more time, longer to spend, but that was not the case.

He was hers, and now he is gone.

* * *

Tallusa is never sure about him; not at all.

They are introduced as babies; walked around the garden together. They are friends – the talk of marriage is entertained but never pressed upon. One does not press a Hero queen about her daughter's marital status. It is likely to end in mess.

They are friends for a while, even considered sweethearts, but it doesn't really go anywhere. She spends more time with an immortal deviant than she does with him. He is eclipsed by the Hero of Skill, for who could ever live up to being her sweetheart while her best friend owns Reaver Industries?

When she is a little older, she leaves him, only to return after being burned by a boy who was more concerned about losing his virginity than he was about her.

She will never marry him, she doesn't ever touch him, and he never touches her. He overhears her telling Reaver that Logan doesn't like him, and at the same time she's sort of glad her brother disapproves. Elliot pretends he never heard.

She loses him, though, even though she cares little for him it still wounds her. When her brother orders her to choose between rebels and Elliot, she cannot, she simply cannot. It is the last time she is ever indecisive, but it happens.

She cannot choose, and so he dies.

* * *

To Valkyrie, Elliot is boring.

He is prissy, and far too pretty. Moreover, there is something wrong with his fringe. She thinks he's gay at first, though later he proves her wrong.

He has no interest in fighting or being dangerous. She finds him dull. The only time he is ever interesting is when she uses him.

He is a means to an end; a way of getting rid of her virginity so that she may bed others, and when he realises it he is upset, but she doesn't care. She never cared, not for him, not for any of her lovers. He should know that by the time she's twenty.

When Logan calls for his death or the death of the rebels, the words are hardly out of his mouth before she's pointing to Elliot.

"He'll be proud to die for his cause," she adds bravely.

She feigns anger later on, when Jasper soothes her and tells her that her brother's mad. Mad? No, goodness no. Logan has never been saner. He's just removed an annoying obstacle in her life.

Because after all, she never did care for him.

* * *

**A/N So if you hadn't noticed, Valkyrie is kinda a bitch. Ah well. **


	3. Logan

**Logan**

He has always cared for her; the older brother who was a little aloof, but at the same time gave the greatest advice she had ever received. Rina cherishes her memories of him, now he's left for another land in order to let Albion heal. Of course he will always be there, in letters and reports, to advise and guide her.

When she was a baby they never thought she'd make it, she was small and weak, but Logan, just five then, cuddled her and kept her warm while her mother slept. She owes her brother her own life.

For a brief period, she hates him, can't stand him. He ordered the death of a man she cared for, stopped short her naivety.

She realises soon after he was preparing her for ruling the kingdom. And when she meets the Crawler, and discovers Logan left Aurora, she is neither torn nor judgemental. Logan must have known the Crawler would try for Albion, so he decided to save Albion, his own country, rather than stick out his neck for a stranger. Admirable and patriotic, though selfish.

And when the choice comes, to kill or to spare, she throws herself off of her throne and hugs her brother, rather than have him executed. Rina owes him her life, after all; she has red in her ledger, and she will not forget a debt simply to appease her own people.

And when he leaves for a foreign land, she understands, she forgives, and she moves on to find two bullet wounds in her body and a soldier who would give his life for her, not simply because of duty, or the oaths he swore.

* * *

Luna remembers little of her childhood.

But what she remembers of it never includes any sibling affection between her or her brother. Anger, spats, and comments about her tomboyish personality are abundant. He chides, tells her to wear dresses, sighs when she turns up dirty from gardening or hide and seek.

During balls he hands her off to young men simply to alleviate himself of the burden of her presence; that changes when she meets Elliot, though, and he tries to force her to stay by his side, rather than allow her to cavort away with her friend.

The final nail in his coffin is when he tries to order her to kill her lover, her boyfriend, the man she plans on marrying and has claimed with her very soul.

And when the order comes, Logan's death or reprieve, she doesn't even remember that he's her brother. He argued with her, attempted to kill her lover, sent a troop of soldiers to their deaths, executed Swift, abandoned Aurora, and more importantly took Reaver's advice. To her, he is no longer flesh and blood, but a tyrant king.

There's more of her mother in her than she realises, watching her own brother's execution.

* * *

He isn't even Tallusa's full brother; he's a half, left over from Sparrow and Reaver's romantic, sexual liaison when Sparrow was fuming at the whole of Albion. And yet he is the best big brother a girl could hope for.

When she is learning to walk, Logan is beside her mother the entire time giving her words of encouragement. And when her mother is resting he picks his little sister up and urges her on. When she falls on him he giggles, hugging her, and sets her right again.

When she is five some older boys pull faces and make her cry, and Logan hares through the garden waving a large stick to chase them away, tearing his fancy clothes on thorns and muddying his shoes. And when he finds his weeping sister he picks her up and carries her away to the kitchens where the cooks feed her cake. And it doesn't matter that he's fifteen by then; he is Tallusa's big brother, and he'll be damned if he lets anyone hurt her.

He frowns every time Elliot is around; when Clarke tries to force her to sleep with him he has the boy castrated; whenever Reaver teaches her to shoot he stands by the side watching his father and sister to make sure that neither of them hurt each other.

After he forces her to choose between man and rebel and sees the hurt on her face, he locks himself in his room and mopes for an entire week. It takes Reaver and several cups of tea liberally spiked with whisky to coax him out, and even then he is grumpy.

And when Major Swift is going to be executed, she realises, as she's standing in the crowd, that's he's locked eyes with her and he's nodding. His way of telling her that she _must_ free Swift; it is imperative.

He almost knows what she's going to do when it comes to down his life. Before anyone has even barked out a reason for his death her hand is up, silencing the dissenters. She simply says 'I think not' and everyone knows it is useless to argue.

She does not worry for him, during those eight months she is gone. Because he finds Page, and Page gives him Lizzie.

* * *

It is not many times that Valkyrie has questioned her own self. But Logan causes her to.

She remembers him, the big older brother, the shoulder to cry on, the one who introduced her to Reaver. She remembers calm words and relieved sighs – and also exhausted sighs of a man who has tried to move mountains and failed, the mountains being her seductive siren's personality and mindset.

Valkyrie likes the debauchery of life, but at the end of the day she looks back on herself and despairs of what she was. It takes Logan to do that.

During the revolution, she is indifferent; sure, he's a tyrant, fine, yeah, she's going on the throne. Just provide her with a willing man in her bed later on, and she'll be fine.

But on that day when it's the choice between killing a tyrant and sparing her own brother, she looks back on all her decisions so far and suddenly changes, realises her life so far has been wasted on _her_. She needs to do something for the people, she needs to stop being so selfish.

Although that doesn't mean she'll appease them by murdering her own brother.

* * *

**A/N Thanks for the reviews, LunaMarr and LaBellaDJalisco! They are always appreciated!**

**Your friendly neighbourhood review whore,**

**Lizabetta**


	4. Ben

**Ben**

One of the first things Rina remembers from her childhood is blue eyes and golden hair. It is not until years later that she realises why.

When they get to Mourningwood she is covered in muck and wearing a purple mercenary suit, tired and wanting a nice place to sleep. She does not get that. Instead, she gets an order to go up to the mortar and learn how to shoot.

And when she is there, he warns her there's a slight chance of maiming, and she jokes with him about his choice of words. When the Hollow Men appear, she has to calm herself. But it never gets easier, even as she slices her way through dozens of undead.

She is charmed by his cocky personality and strength, and at the same time his wisdom on the battleground. He is by her side during the battle, swords scything out against the enemy, and she has never felt more protected in her life.

Part of her wants him to come to the party with them, just so that she can keep that feeling of protection around him. When Page denies him, another part of her sighs in relief. Page does not want him.

When she collapses in that desert, and the first thing she sees through blurry eyes is gold and cerulean, after the darkness whispers to her about her secret desires, she realises, then and there, that she will try her hardest to keep him.

She does herself no favours with him by not killing her brother, but while she knows his grief is strong, she can't just kill Logan to make him feel better. That would kill her too.

After the Darkness is destroyed, and she asks him if he's going, one terrified part of her considers that he might actually, and when he says he's staying it's the most relief she's felt in a long time.

When she jumps in front of Reaver's pistol she knows that she's not doing this for Reaver; she's doing it for Ben, and later on, in her rooms, she shows him that.

When it comes back to her that a childhood friend was Ben, she has never been happier.

* * *

When Luna first sees him, she immediately finds him to her liking. He's an arrogant rogue and he'd fight to keep her safe if it was required of him.

The first time they talk, they exchange light flirting, because Luna is going to be different this time, not the naïve princess who used to wear light blue and giggle all the time, and flirting with a soldier is a good start.

She remembers to hitch up her skirt when they are waiting for the gate to fall, her leg braced against a statue, and he's looking. They fight back to back, Luna surrounding them in fire and obliterating the Hollow Men, Ben firing off powerful, accurate shots, their shoulders touching.

And when it's over and the Hollow Men are down, he finds her leaning against a wall, his rifle jams, and their fingers touch. Suddenly their lips are frustratingly close and yet too far away, Major Swift calls his name, and he leaves.

Later on, when she finds Elliot, she tries to pretend nothing ever happened, and that she's completely in love with Elliot – which she is. Snubbed, Ben turns to flirting with Page.

He leaves, and she thinks she's seen the last of her interest in him, when he returns after a few months, and a mad stalker of his leads her right to him.

She has no idea why she sets down the dare for him; perhaps she just wants to get the tension she feels around him out of the way and inspire him to leave. Either way, it's on, and he doesn't make things easy.

At first he's an annoyance; then he's all she thinks about. The next time she's with Elliot intimately, she imagines him instead of her husband, and when it's over, after a stronger relief than she's ever experienced, she's both plagued with guilt and secretly enjoying herself.

When Elliot shuffles off this mortal coil, Ben protects her, and the dare is no longer a problem, a thing weighing down on her mind, but something to look forward to, a pleasant future she's allowed to have.

And at the end of the dare he stays.

* * *

Tallusa realises that Ben fits everything she looks for in a man – blonde, a soldier, and rugged. She told Reaver as much when she was a little girl.

It's after Mourningwood, when they meet again, that they tell each other, in no uncertain terms, that they're interested in each other. And when she drops her Guild Seal and releases Sparrow's soul, he kisses her, and she kisses back.

He is almost in awe of her when she rescues Swift from execution, and she doesn't realise how much he feels he owes her while she's dragging the half-dressed Major along the streets and into the sewers.

After the Revolution, he's not sure about her, because she changes how she acts, the way she is, so he becomes more reclusive, and he doesn't seek her out. That is why they don't marry, and that's why they don't sleep together.

Her loss wounds him; when he thinks she's dead, he buries his grief beneath meaningless relationships that all hurt him in one way or another. She watches him from afar, wishing he wouldn't harm himself because of her.

Eight months later they're lying in bed together, stroking each other's hair, finally unified. It has taken her time to get to him, and it's hurt, but nothing will part them ever again.

* * *

Valkyrie has no interest in keeping this one.

He'll be a quick, easy conquest and then she'll move on again. She is attracted to Ben because she can't help but see his arrogance and cockiness as a _challenge_, and Avo help her if she hasn't always loved challenges.

She finds herself on the receiving end of an attempted seduction, because Ben has decided he wants her as a notch on his bed too.

It takes a heated look in the sewers to solidify that interest, and Valkyrie finds herself in a night of mind-numbing euphoria when they do act upon it.

When it's over, they exchange thanks for the casual intimacy, and go on being better comrades than before.

Avo has decreed it to be so. Ben Finn is not to belong to her, and she is destined to be bound to another.

* * *

**A/N Because Valkyrie always goes against the grain.**


	5. For Valkyrie Only

The Queen of Albion has recently discovered that her wings allowed her to fly, and are not simply pretty decorations that appeared whenever she was attacking. Useful, and fun. Once she masters them, she decides to go on a flying expedition around Albion.

So she jumps off a tower.

The winds are smooth and gentle, and as Valkyrie soars over Silverpines, she feels at peace with the world. She sweeps towards the mountains, then frowns. A storm is breaking, so very close to her. If she isn't careful…

The air suddenly changes - for the worse. Valkyrie is pitched over the trees as a swirling gust thrusts out of nowhere. She pinions her arms to her sides, then cries out as sudden, heavy drops of rain and hail thunder down upon her from the sky.

She fights the wind desperately, trying to get towards Brightwall, or at least the tiny settlement in Mourningwood.

_Avo, please,_ she prays, _give me this little break and I swear I'll follow you_.

Avo obviously doesn't believe her, or else this is a test of faith, because she drops like a stone, plunging head first into the thick, dense wood of Silverpines.

_No, no, NO!_ _I'm unarmed! The Balverines will kill me!_

But it is too late. Valkyrie crashes into the soil, the impact knocking her out.

* * *

She awakes to the smell of wet ground.

Getting up, all she sees is trees, and a forbidding forest surrounding her. She attempts to begin flying, but finds that her wing was fractured.

She sets off determinedly, running towards the rest of the forest, her mind formulating plans and ideas, each one being chucked away. She passes caves and lakes, rows upon rows of dark, foreboding pines. Several times she swears she hears soft footfalls behind her. But when she turns around, there is nothing there. It is as she passes a tunnel leading into a tall hill that she hears the unmistakable howls of a hunting Balverine. And not just one. Several of them have answered the call, and now, as she listens hard, she hears their heavy thudding. She turns and flees into the tunnel.

Something smacks her round the back of her head and knocks her out.

* * *

Valkyrie awakes to the find her hands tied behind her back.

She is in a small, poky cell that she barely fits, in a natural set of caverns that someone has dug out to make into rooms and corridors. To the right, a wall. To the left, however, murmurings.

She shifts her head; voices? They are deep and gravelly, and she knows suddenly that she has been captured by Balverines.

"What do we do with her?"

"The moment she wakes up, we tell Kervain. He'll be interested in this one."

"He certainly will."

She's so busy listening that she doesn't register a set of footfalls coming towards her.

"Ah, she's awake! Ulfur, fetch Kervain."

She hears the sound of running, and a Balverine in human form runs past the cell. She looks up to see a blonde and blue eyed human Balverine looking curiously down at her.

"Why am I in here?" she asks.

"Well, you see, you might pose a threat. That's what Kervain's going to find out."

"Do you know who I am?"

"A pretty lady with red hair dressed in mercenary clothes?"

"Not quite."

"Well, I don't care. Hey, Kervain!"

And into Valkyrie's line of sight appears a man in his mid-to-late twenties, with skin like dark chocolate, and wood-green eyes. His hair is coal-black, and he isn't wearing a shirt. His feet are bare and he wears ragged trousers. He is striking.

"So, this is the little interloper? Interesting! She's rather a looker."

The Balverine called Kervain opens the door to her cell and picks her up bodily, throwing her over his shoulder.

"Great! I'll deal with this. Good job Ulfur, Refurinn."

One hand pinioned her hands to her back, pressing her against his shoulder. The other reaches round to grip her…

"Get your fingers off my arse," she snarls, and Kervain just laughs. They make their way down the corridors, and Kervain, grinning, begins speaking.

"You crash-landed from the sky, my brothers say," he comments. "That makes you no ordinary human. So perhaps we should start with formalities and get to know each other better. I'm Kervain Mac-Tire, the Alpha of this Balverine pack. Those two were Ulfur and Refurinn Tofa, Northern Wastes Balverines originally. Who are you?"

"Valkyrie Krieger-Black, Queen of Albion. And you'd best get your hand off my butt before I kill you."

"Krieger-Black? Soiled the old bloodline there, didn't you?"

"What do you mean? The Kriegers were a group of ancient protectors, who upheld the law after the dissolution of the Heroes' Guild."

"Yeah, which is why I think it's ironic that a Hero should bear the same name as one who helped destroy the Heroes' Guild."

"So? My father married my mother, knowing full well his family history and what she was."

"Alright, _queenie_, don't get your crown in a twist. Speaking of which, why _are _you hanging around in Silverpines, _this_ far out?"

"I crash-landed. I was flying using my wings, and I got caught in the storm and crashed."

* * *

They reach a door, which Kervain flings open. He walks in and closes the door, hearing Valkyrie's gasp of dismay.

"Put me down, and get rid of the manacles, _Alpha_," she hisses.

"Why?"

Valkyrie's gaze flicked to a long, deep pool of water embedded in the floor.

"Because, I've just noticed you have a bath in your room, and I want to use it."

He puts her down and opens the manacles, walking over to a fireplace and throwing a few logs on.

He hears the sound of something dropping. He turns to see Valkyrie stepping away from a pile of clothes. She releases her bun, allowing her long red hair to flow down her back. She hears a sharp intake of breath.

Valkyrie turns her head slightly. Kervain looks away, and then back again, catching the burning blush on the young queen's face.

He compliments her and she stutters at him to turn away, embarrassed. When he hears a splash, he turns around again.

Valkyrie looks up at him from in the pool, arms folded across her chest, hair floating around her like water weed, and their eyes meet.

Suddenly he's stripping down to join her in the pool, pressing her gently against the wall, his fingers curving into the back of her neck and pulling her face closer. Her lips meet his.

* * *

She's completely helpless under his expertise, lying down, red hair splayed out on the pillow like blood, her skin flushed with exertion. At one point, when she finishes, her wings spread out, and Kervain finds himself admiring them distractedly.

After it's over, she tells him that she's his, and begins to plot how best to tell her kingdom she's got a Balverine as a lover.

* * *

**A/N Not every princess gets Ben Finn as their husband. Sometimes, you have to mix things up. **


	6. Reaver

**Reaver**

Rina doesn't know where to start.

He's evil and infuriating; the man doesn't know when to shut up and he can't host a conversation without organising an orgy.

He blackmailed her mother into having sex with him and he shot her-admittedly, she hadn't been his target-during a duel with Ben.

Then he beds her daughter and acts like he's completely innocent. The man is quite honestly pushing every last one of her buttons. And she can't kill him because that would break Lina.

He exasperates her beyond belief and daily she doesn't know what to do with him. Perhaps her daughter will succeed where she has failed.

Perhaps Lina will know better what to do with the deviant.

* * *

Luna is terrified of him.

He's handsome, and beautiful, and almost flawless on the outside – but then, the devil would be, would he not? How else would he ensnare his victims?

He terrifies her, and has done since she was sixteen and he cornered her in a dark passage of the castle, ran his hands up her sides and chuckled about how she was turning into 'quite the attractive minx.' She is somewhat naïve, but not so naïve that she doesn't understand what he means.

He wants her to be like her mother, to open her legs for whatever man takes her fancy until she's married. He wants her to bed him. In a rush of fear-fuelled strength, and the dormant Heroic powers within her, she shoves him away and flees.

Four years later she is the queen, and still he does not relent. He catches her again, after Elliot's death, while she's in the library, and only Ben's timely arrival interrupts him.

She _hates_ him, despises what he does to her, because it's fear and lust and it's driving her mad.

He tries, one last time, to get her alone, when she's passing through Mourningwood, and he's been _stalking_ her. And when she finds that out, she's done with the fear.

She pulls out her rifle and shoots him. When he falls, she shoots again, and again, even when his body has gone limp and cold, she snatches his Dragonstomper and empties it into him. Then she collapses, crying, against a tree.

And her fear just melts away.

* * *

Tallusa must admit, later on, their first meeting is not the best; she was kidnapped to be show-cased to him by his mercenaries. But why in Avo's name would she care about such things? She's four, and he's smartly dressed and dapper, and she's seen him around the castle talking to her mother. That makes him safe territory in her naïve mind.

And safe he is, escorting her home to her mother and her bedroom and her toys and her big brother Logan; Reaver's son, as she one day finds out.

It's when she throws a book onto him and he obligingly reads to her that she knows she's got a keeper.

Over the next few years, they play together. He shoots trees and boys, the former for tripping her up, the latter for trying to coerce her into bed. He teaches her how to use a pistol and how to push even the harshest of business deals into her favour. To reave means to deprive, to take away, but Reaver gives her some of the best years of her life.

She is his petite enfant, his precious Tallusa, and the daughter he never had. He is a surrogate father who tells her the truth in her glittering castle full of lying courtiers.

During her period of 'death' Reaver's mansion is her temporary home, a haven from the lie she lives and a place where she can put up her feet and relax. He's one of the few people who knows her plans. Without him none of them could have come to fruition.

There is no one in Albion she trusts more.

* * *

Valkyrie has always had a head for business, a nose for trouble and an eye for attractive men. Reaver ticks every box that such a personality provides, and the instant she sees him, she wants him.

The first time is at the age of sixteen, at a ball or a gala or something, where her gown is plunging in a way that only youth can get away with, her lashes flutter as though she were some shy blushing debutante, and the entire venue is liberally bathed in glitter and the air is thick with nauseating, pompous conversation.

A young man of twenty with an unfortunate nose is dipping her in a dance, somewhat gracelessly too, when she feels a set of eyes on her and looks up. This is not surprising; in such a daring, eye-catching and downright scandalous dress she is the centre of attention at almost all times. But this pair of eyes is different; not disdainful, but hungry. She looks up and sees him; a tall white figure at the opposite end of the hall wearing a purple mask that somehow doesn't clash with his white overcoat, waistcoat, trousers and black boots and gloves. On his head is a white silk and leather top hat with a band of black leather wrapped around it. Between the holes of the mask his eyes are curious, searching brown orbs that rake her body and send shudders down her spine.

The unfortunate-nosed boy leaves to get drinks, no doubt hoping to ply her until she spills some salacious court secret, and the white stranger slips into his place.

"Such daring clothes for such a young beauty," he tells her. "Surely a young flower like you deserves more modest leaves?"

That is the starter of their conversation; later, he will be rutting the rest of it out of her, each word interposed with heady cries and mewls of pleasure.

A few years later she will still be using her body any way she pleases, but this time she uses it for business deals. It's the Revolution; it's Reaver's manor, fighting Balverines and Hollow Men and listening to Page screeching about equality. Valkyrie assesses his worth in terms of money and weapons. She bargains with him, and names her price. She pays it later on, lying on her front, clutching the bed sheets with ecstasy as the princess feels his touch once more.

During her first year he is a prized gem; there is no way she could ever raise such funds without him and his aid. None of it is raised from oppression, nothing about her gains would cause hatred from her people.

And after the first year of her reign? Well, as they say, business is concluded.

* * *

**A/N So life happened when it comes to this. I sometimes get the Fable bug and write fanfiction, but most of the time I'm busy writing Skyrim. **

**As always, reviews are welcome and potential themes to cover are always appreciated!**

**Blue**


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